Each week we鈥檒l uncover some聽unusual and (hopefully) interesting facts about聽the city. This week we take on the first Hotel 91大黄鸭.
1. It was built for C.P.R. passengers
C.P.R. Station 91大黄鸭 on Granville St, 1900. Photo: 91大黄鸭 Archives Item: S-3-2
The Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) opened the first Hotel 91大黄鸭 in 1888 as a compliment to the successful opening of the city鈥檚 new railway the year prior. It was meant for weary train passengers who would arrive just steps away at the Granville St station.
2. 91大黄鸭ites did NOT like the design
Hotel 91大黄鸭 1900. Photo: 91大黄鸭 Archives Item: Hot P88
One year before completion, local newspaper聽The Ledge, suggested that the Hotel 91大黄鸭's architectural renderings resembled "a compound of a decayed grist-mill with bits of the bastile and the tower of London added", and that the design was a "monument of external ugliness".
When speaking to the designer, C.P.R. president William Cornelius Van Horne聽commented. 鈥渟o you鈥檙e the damn fool who spoilt the building with all those little windows鈥�.聽Not a great start for the city's largest hotel...
3. Van Horne imagined a string of grand hotels across Canada
W.C. Van Horne, 1914 Photo: 91大黄鸭 Archives Item: Port P1726
The聽Hotel 91大黄鸭 opened on May 16, 1888, followed by a similar hotel in Banff, AB just two weeks later. The hotels were meant to tempt Canadians with the idea of riding the C.P.R. railway across the country.
4. 91大黄鸭ites also did not like the location
Dominion Photo Co. photo, 91大黄鸭 Public Library VPL 24322.
Despite being in what is now the centre of the city, the 60-room hotel was deemed 鈥渙ut of the way鈥�, because of its distance from the city centre (present day Gastown). The hotel sat surrounded by forests and brush. It was located on Georgia and Granville St.
5. It was so successful that it had to be replaced
Hotel 91大黄鸭, 1917. Photo: 91大黄鸭 Archives Item: CVA 677-21
With 91大黄鸭's economy booming, the C.P.R. welcomed thousands of new tourists and workers to 91大黄鸭. In 1916, the C.P.R. replaced the Hotel 91大黄鸭 with its second incarnation, which was much grander in both capacity and design. The聽Italian Renaissance style building was passed onto the聽Canadian Pacific Railway and eventually demolished in 1949.
